....
Like most mods, you don't actually need any of them, but........You could apply the same way of thinking and say you only need a Toyota Yaris (Sorry, but driving one of those is enough to destroy your will to live!). At first, my perception of a limited slip diff was that it was pointless unless you did trackdays but talking to one or two people with experience of them and also driving my good friend Jason's Mk5 GTI with a VWR Quaife convinced me otherwise. The fact that VW have now included a LSD, albeit electronic, in the GTI Mk6 acknowledges that traction can be a problem in certain conditions.
It's been a long time coming but worth the wait.
The down side of working with VW Racing is that plans and timeframes keep changing because of their priorities (this was made clear from the start and I have no problem whatsoever with this). The overwhelming up side is their expertise and high standards backed up by their ability through their contacts to solve any problems which may arise - and this was put to the test. They are dedicated VW specialists and I don't believe my GTI could be in better hands.
The first problem encountered was that Quaife delivered the wrong diff in the right packaging and further compounded by Quaife's delay in sending it! They are famous for their products but are a very typical British engineering company that doesn't always respond to customers as efficiently and quickly as they should do. It's a bit like the difference between the UK and USA postal services. The Quaife ATB diff installed is the one developed with VWR and is designed to respond more quickly to the physical inputs. It's quite a lump and weighs 10 lbs - Good job I saved weight with that carbonfibre bonnet isn't it!
VW Racing are over 3 hours drive away and so we arranged that I deliver my car on a Monday afternoon and they would start work the next day. Working on the DSG box of tricks requires a high standard of skill and, following an introduction to VWR, I chose them because of their experience and expertise. They choose their mechanics/technicians very carefully. All was going well until I got a phone call in the evening to say that they were changing the bearings - It was okay and good for many more miles but 53,000 miles of wear meant it didn't match as perfectly as they would like with the new cogs of the Quaife. But it's a VW part and not something hanging around on a shelf in stock in the UK. No problem! One was sent overnight from Germany.
At this stage I'm sat here with one eye outside, expecting to see my beloved red GTI arrive any moment as I need her tomorrow and there wasn't time for me to drive up to VWR to collect.
I'll keep you posted.
